Phoenix Tale Library

"The two-universal suffrage and universal schooling-are inextricably bound together. The one without the other is a perilous delusion. Suffrage without schooling produces mobocracy, not democracy-not rule of law, not constitutional government by the people as well as for them. The great American educator, John Dewey, recognized this early in this century. In Democracy and Education, written in 1916, he first tied these two words together and let each shine light upon the other. A revolutionary message of that book was that a democratic society must provide equal educational opportunity not only by giving to all its children the same quantity of public education-the same number of years in school-but also by making sure to give to all of them, all with no exceptions, the same quality of education. The ideal Dewey set before us is a challenge we have failed to meet. It is a challenge so difficult that it is understandable, perhaps excusable, that we have so far failed. But we cannot continue to fail without disastrous consequences for all of us. For the proper working of our political institutions, for the efficiency of our industries and businesses, for the salvation of our economy, for the vitality of our culture, and for the ultimate good of our citizens as individuals, and especially our future citizens-our children-we must succeed." p. 3-4 Adler (The Paideia Proposal: An Educational Manifesto).